Producer Advisory Committee
Meet the dairy producers who provide input to develop and implement CDCB services and genetic evaluations.
Dairy farmers, appointed by the CDCB Board of Directors each spring, provide grassroots input on strategy, policy, future priorities, and opportunities for the organization. Established in 2019, the Producer Advisory Committee (PAC) has become a source of trusted advisors.
Over the past year, the Producer Advisory Committee has met to discuss:
- Mobility and hoof health research
- Female fertility traits review
- Future calf health traits
- 2025 Net Merit $ revision
- Data flow into the National Cooperator Database
- Herd sustainability metrics
- Inbreeding
- Routine evaluation updates
- Genetic conditions
- Future milking speed trait
Members can serve up to three consecutive one-year terms. The PAC meets virtually four times a year and participates in two in-person meetings – one as a joint meeting with the CDCB Board of Directors. Producers interested in learning more or serving on the committee should contact one of the Board members or CDCB Industry Relations Manager, Katie Schmitt.
Tentative PAC meeting schedule and expectations:
- April: 90-minute virtual call
- June: 90 minute virtual call
- August: 1-day meeting at CDCB headquarters in Bowie, MD
- October: 90-minute virtual call
- December 9: 1-day joint meeting with CDCB Board in Jacksonville, FL
- February: 90-minute virtual call
Meet the Members!
The value I find in serving on this committee is the knowledge and understanding gained of how the proofs and traits are put together.
If you have a passion for genetics and want to learn more, it’s a group of producers who come from all walks, all around the United States. It has offered really good discussions over the years. I have especially enjoyed the conversations about health traits.
We are always looking for people who are hungry and wanting to learn more about how the process works. You just have to have a passion for breeding good cattle and want to contribute to her efficiency moving forward.
Spencer Hackett
Melarry Farms
Rice, MN
2024 PAC Chair
One of the greatest values of serving on this committee is the association with other dairyman. It’s also an opportunity to sit in a room with some of the leading geneticists in the world. Being able to bring some of that learning and expertise back to the farm has been very beneficial to me.
Some of the most interesting discussions this year have been about mobility and lameness because that is something we deal with on our farm. Also, the discussions about voluntary waiting periods through the female fertility traits review process has been interesting. The opportunity to get other dairyman’s ideas on how they implement that on their farms and in their breeding programs.
Kent Buttars
Butter-Dell Dairy
Lewiston, UT
The value I find in being on this committee is coming to the meetings and being exposed to things that I never learned about in the industry – about how the evaluations are compiled and how genetics are furthering the dairy industry.
Serving on this committee gives the opportunity to network with a lot of really good producers that you can learn from. The ideal people for this group are forward-thinking producers who look at the big picture of everything – who have an idea and a vision of what things can be.
David Lawrence
Caprock Dairy
Muleshoe, TX
This committee has been an opportunity to educate myself more on genetics. Even after a few meetings, I know more now than I did before. I have a better understanding of proofs and how they work. We have talked about how they are made, who contributes to them, and the organizations involved.
Guy Vogel
Vogel Farms
Reedsville, WI
The value of being on this committee is almost limitless. I wouldn’t take the time away from my family and my farm if I didn’t think there was great value in it.
We have discussed a lot of very interesting topics over my three years on the committee and most of them relate to my farm. I found the calving ease discussion, the trait discussions, the frequency of evaluations, and more very interesting. What we often aren’t aware of as producers is what it takes to produce the proofs. It is very interesting to see the passion and the commitment that the staff has to make these proofs routinely happen. It doesn’t just happen on a Tuesday morning without a lot of work.
The ideal person for this committee is someone who not only has ideas but is willing to share those ideas with people.
Tom Kestell
Ever-Green-View Farm
Waldo, WI
Matt Hendel
Hendel Farms
Caledonia, MN
Greg Andersen
Seagull-Bay Dairy
American Falls, ID
Mack Drees
Drees Dairy LLC
Peshtigo, WI